June 14 (Bloomberg) -- Lyla El-Gueretly, a 30-year-old
school teacher, is taking her sexual harasser to court after he
repeatedly slapped her for confronting his sexual gestures and
remarks as she was walking on a Cairo bridge in early April.

While riding a public bus, the 40-year-old man called her a
“whore” and made sexual gestures with his mouth, El-Gueretly
said in a telephone interview. That’s when she confronted him,
saying: “Shame on your beard. Why pretend to be so religious,
if you are not going to be religious.” He then got off the bus
and began hitting her, she said.

The hearing, on June 19, is being seen as a test case for
sexual harassment in Egypt, where women complain it is a daily
occurrence and that there is no proper legislation to guard
against its rise. A 2008 study by the Egyptian Center for
Women’s Rights said 62 percent of men admitted to sexually
harassing women, and 53 percent said women who are harassed
“bring it on” themselves.

Egypt’s government-backed National Council for Women
submitted a draft law to toughen penalties for sexual harassment
crimes to President Mohamed Mursi, the state-run Middle East
News Agency reported on June 12. The law is expected to set
clear definitions for crimes including rape. It comes after at
least 29 women were sexually assaulted and raped in Tahrir
Square on January 25.

El-Gueretly’s case has been filed by the prosecution as one
of physical attack, insult and slander, rather than verbal
sexual harassment and assault, she said.

’’The prosecutor focused on the physical attack, rather
than the sexual remarks,’’ El-Gueretly said. ’’He also didn’t
think the incident was serious enough to keep someone locked
up.’’

The defendant was released and El-Gueretly said she doesn’t
expect him to show up for the hearing, or for the police to
arrest him if he is convicted. He faces between three to six
years in prison under the current charges, she said.